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But Sunday night, they left no question about their ability to respond to the pressure of a win-or-it's-over Game 7 for the American League championship, ousting the defending champion Red Sox in a 3-1 thriller.

They clinched their first pennant at 11:40, when Akinori Iwamura fielded Jed Lowrie's hard grounder and tagged second base, launched a wild celebration that might last until Wednesday's opening game of the Series, against the Phillies at Tropicana Field.

They got there because Matt Garza, the fiery right-hander acquired in Andrew Friedman's bold off-season trade with Minnesota, pitched spectacularly into the eighth.

They got there because of big hits by two newcomers: heralded rookie Evan Longoria, who doubled in the tying run, and seemingly bit player Willy Aybar, who provided a cushion with his seventh-inning homer. And an even bigger one by an old favorite, Rocco Baldelli, who singled in the go-ahead run in the fifth.

And they got there because manager Joe Maddon, criticized for his bullpen handling in a historic Game 5 collapse, manipulated brilliantly through the eighth, using four relievers to face five batters and get three outs, culminated by David Price's strikeout of J.D. Drew with a 97-mph fastball.

Dustin Pedroia gave the Sox a 1-0 lead six pitches into the game. The Rays tied it in the fourth on an impressive swing by Lon­goria, who took a 2-and-2 Jon Lester pitch to rightfield, and good base­running by Carlos Pena, who came around from first, on an aggressive call by third-base coach Tom Foley, and slid in ahead of Pedroia's slightly off-line relay.

They took the lead on three straight hits to open the fifth, starting with Aybar's double into the leftfield corner. The big play was fill-in shortstop Alex Cora's nonplay on Dioner Navarro's slow grounder to the hole. Then Baldelli grounded a single by third baseman Kevin Youkilis.